Camera advise...

One of Helen's daughter is wanting a new camera so Helen told her to call me and ask what to buy.  So, here is my camera advise.

First, decide how important a camera and you pictures are to you and how much you want to spend.  Now all over the net you will find plenty of professional advise on how to buy a camera, or computer, kitchen mixer.  What most of these advise places leave out it really the FIRST step, how important is this device to me and how much am I willing to spend.  Just like when you consider buying a new car.  You ask the salesman, what is your bottom dollar.  You ask yourself, 'what is my top dollar?'

Example, Helen, I bet has a very expensive kitchen food processor.  I have a avocado green mixer that I think used to be Mama's.  Last Christmas I bought a pretty red one on Black Friday at wally world for $3. It was way to weak even for me.  I threw it in the trash and went back to the green machine.  A food processor is not very high on my priority list.

But I LOVE taking pictures.  I really love taking digital pictures because I can view the pictures at no cost.  I take LOTS of pictures.

Anyway, here is my camera advise.  Decide how much you are willing to pay.  Search the net for Canon and Nikon cameras that fit in your budget.  Ok, so I left that part out.  Only Canon or Nikon cameras. If you prefer a different brand, include that brand, but consider Canon or Nikon.  How did I come to the Canon and Nikon choice?  By looking at pictures on pictures blogs, that is blogs that consisted mainly of beautiful pictures of whatever the blogger was interested in.   Then, when I saw beautiful pictures, I checked to see what camera they used.  The best were amateur photographers usually had Canon or Nikon cameras.

Now, once you have some choices, look for reviews of the cameras you are considering.  The problem with reviews is you need to sort out company paid reviews from non paid reviews.  I like this site for camera reviews
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews
Just type the camera name in the search box.  CNET also is a good mostly unbiased source.  And then you can search for the camera on Amazon. com or at Walmart and read the real customer reviews.  But on true customer reviews, be aware that if a customer has a camera that is 10 years old and just purchased a $300 zoom digital they are naturally going to be overwhelmingly impressed with the camera.

Now for Krissie, she wanted a Kodak.
The MaxZ990 is alright for pictures of the kids, but for action pictures [soccer] it has a slow shot to shot rate.  That is, the reviews say you take one pic and then there is a lag before it is ready to take a second pic.
 The most highly rated zoom I found was the Nikon Coolpix P500.  This seems to be the pro review sites choice of superzoom cameras.
I like the Canon SX40.  I prefer Canon over other brands.

All these are sub $400 cameras.  They should all take really great pictures of the kids, and maybe decent soccer pictures.  They are what the name implies, point and shoot and get good pictures.

If you want to go over $500, I would get a EOS camera with changeable lenses. Canon EOS, maybe the Canon T3 or T2i or T3i.  Any of these will run close to $1000 when you add a short zoom lens, and you still will have less than a 10x zoom.  A Canon or Nikon EOS camera (with changeable lenses) will take beautiful portraits of kids.  A good EOS zoom for these cameras [soccer or wildlilfe at a distance] with even half the zoom of the above superzoom point and shoot cameras will run around $1000 or even more.  And, there is a learning curve on these cameras.  But, they all have auto modes that will take great pictures right out of the box.

See, it is the money thing.  Around $400 versus $1000 plus.

My last and most useful piece of advise about buying a camera, is buy one from Walmart, keep the receipt and all the packaging material.  Try it out right away.  Take lots of pictures of the kind you bought the camera to take.  If, after a week you do not like what you bought, take it back and get your money back.

The one I bought is the Canon 60d with a 18-135mm lens and a 55-250 zoom lens.  When I get the camera paid for [I charged it on a no interest card], I am going to buy as loooong zooooom lens as my budget will allow.